Suitcase
by yo-doctor-death
Summary: Jane has had enough of Maura's insecurity about their marriage and decides it's time she leaves. But with the return of Hoyt, will their marriage -or they themselves- survive? TW: Violence WARNING: Character death
1. Chapter 1

_Maura sat on the couch in her living room, watching with tears in her eyes as Jane walked out of the door with a suitcase of her clothes and Jo Friday on a leash. She slammed the door and didn't look back, getting in her cruiser and speeding away. Curling into a ball on her couch, Maura sobbed into a throw pillow._

_After crying herself out, Maura got up and went to her front door, opening it and walking outside to her Prius. She didn't know what she hoped to achieve, but she drove to Jane's apartment anyway. Halfway there, however, she was stuck in a traffic jam. She turned on the police scanner Jane had gotten her for Christmas, just in time to catch the tail end of a conversation, "Dog found inside wreckage, suitcase on the side of the road. Believed to have belonged to Detective Jane Rizzoli. No sign of her though."_

_Maura looked around frantically. Jumping out of her car she ran through the traffic and found the scene of the crash. Jane's blue cruiser was wedged in between two trees a bit off the road and the hood was still smoking. She spied a police officer by the vehicle and rushed over to him._

_"Where is she? Where is Jane?" _Where is my wife? _She thought, but didn't dare say out loud. No one on the force knew that they were married, and she wanted it to stay that way. For now. _

_She heard a familiar bark, followed by a scruffy tornado at her feet. She smiled and picked Jo up and held her close. Petting her, Maura walked to the edge of the woods and listened for any shuffling or crunching leaves. She walked further in when she heard a moan._

_"Jane, Jane is that you?" She walked towards the sound and saw a bloody pile of leaves._

_"JANE! HELP SOMEONE! SHE'S OVER HERE!"_

_She began to move the leaves from Jane's face and gasped when she saw 'Hoyt' carved in her cheek. Pushing the leaves away from her neck she saw an incision from a scalpel running parallel to the jugular, a warning, she assumed._

_"M-maura? Is tha... Is that you?" Jane's eyes were swimming in her head and she couldn't focus._

_"It's me Jane, I'm here."_

_"Please, don't ever forget."_

_"Forget what, Jane?"_

_"I lo... I love you." _

_Jane's eyes fluttered for a moment before closing totally._

_"JANE!" Maura cupped Jane's head with her hands, "Jane, no. You cannot die on me. JANE!"_


	2. Chapter 2

_Maura sat in the hospital room listening to the steady beat of the heart monitor and the ventilator breathing for Jane. After being in surgery for a traumatic pneumothorax, Jane was put in the ICU. Upon being placed in a private room (by Maura's request) she hadn't left her side._

_Frost and Korsak showed up about an hour after Jane was placed in a room with flowers and balloons. They placed them on a little table in the corner of the sterile white room and sat in the chairs to the left of the door._

_"H-how's she doin'?" Korsak's rough voice broke the silence that seemed to have followed the two detectives into the room._

_"She's doing better." Maura sounded like she was trying to reassure herself more than anything, "Better. She's... better."_

_Frost looked at her with uncertainty. He just looked at Maura as thoughts whirled in his mind. He tried to figure out how to ask his next question and finally got the wording just right in his head. Just as he was about to speak however, a nurse came in to check Jane's vitals._

_"Maura, can I have a minute with you outside?" Frost stood up and motioned to the door._

_"Uhm, sure." Maura tilted her head in confusion but followed him out of the room._

_Closing the door behind him, Frost ushered her to a bench a few feet from the room. Sitting her down, he kneeled in front of her so they were eye to eye._

_"Is there something going on between you and Jane? You haven't left her side since the accident, and there was a suitcase recovered from the crash site full of Jane's clothing, along with a picture of the two of you."_

_Maura looked down into her lap as her brain worked furiously trying to find an excuse for this. Looking back up at Frost she opened her mouth to speak when monitors started beeping rapidly from Jane's room._

_Korsak was shoved out of the room as the nurses called for a crash cart and nurses came rushing in from around the hospital wing. The loud speaker above their heads came alive with a woman's voice._

_"Code Blue, Floor 3, Room 315"_


	3. Chapter 3

_"Jane Rizzoli?" The doctor came sweeping out of the OR holding a clipboard. "She pulled through the surgery fine, and will be able to return to her room in about a day or so. We had to patch her lung again, and release some of the excess gas from her pleural cavity. She should be stable from now on." He adjusted the glasses on his face before turning around awkwardly and going back through the doors of the OR._

_Frost's phone began to ring and he picked it up, walking away from the group. Shortly after, Maura's phone rang. Together, her and Frost left the hospital and headed to the crime scene. Upon arrival they both stepped out of the car and walked to the white sheet covering the victim._

_"Female, late 20's, ID says she's Rebecca Hawke." Maura nodded at the CSU assistant and removed the sheet from the woman's face. She shook her head and examined the wound at the back of her head._

_"I'll need to get her back to the morgue before I can determine anything. Let's go." She stood up and turned on her heels, her auburn hair covering part of her face. Pushing it away, she strode back to the car and waited for Frost._

_Back in the hospital, Angela had come up and was staying with Jane, waiting for her to wake up. The doctors had given her a sedative and a muscle relaxer so her lung would have time to repair itself before Jane was fully functioning again._

_At the morgue, Maura was taking inventory of the body. A broken watch, $34 in her left pocket of her jeans, and a bracelet with the name Emily engraved in a gold plate. After assessing her wounds, she called Frost down to the morgue._

_"After a full body assessment, I can give you a definitive conclusion. She was attacked from behind with some sort of wooden object. I've got the lab running some tests ona particulate I found at the base of her skull. Time of death, 6:32 p.m. Als-"_

_"Wait a minute. How did you get that exact time of death?"_

_"Her watch was broken in the struggle. I found the same type of particulate in the broken glass."_

_He nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "Now, if you don't mind, I was going to go to the Robber. Anything you need?"_

_"No, I was just going to head up to the hospital to see Jane."_

_"That reminds me: my question that I asked at the hospital. Is there anything going on between you two?"_

_Maura looked down and sighed. Pulling a small box out of her purse she handed it to Frost. As he opened it she began explaining things to him._

_"We are married. Were, married. A year ago we got married but we didn't want to tell anyone because Jane was afraid that you would treat her differently. I don't think that's going to matter now, seeing that she got in a wreck leaving my house. Leaving... Leaving me. Oh frost I can't do this anymore, I just can't!" _

_Sitting at her desk she placed her face in her palms and tried to stop the tears from falling, to no avail. Frost came over and rubbed her back gently._

_"Hey, it's okay. I'm sure she didn't mean it Maura, come on. Let's go up there, I'll go with you."_

_"Thanks Frost." She wiped her tears away and walked with him to the elevator._


	4. Chapter 4

_When Maura entered Jane's hospital room, she had already come off the sedatives and was sitting up reading an old case file. She looked up and smiled at Maura. _

_"Hey, Maur. I'm sorry. I'm just... So sorry."_

_Maura took the case file from her hands and looked at her wife. She had dark circles under her hollow eyes, a breathing tube that went behind her ears and across her cheekbones, coming to an end at her nostrils. Her face was angular, cheekbones jutting out underneath her vitreous skin. Maura's eyes scanned down her wife's body, stopping at the IV's in her hands, pumping various fluids into her. Her hands, with the bubble scars, were so pale they were almost see through. Maura could hardly bear to see Jane this way, and moved her eyes quickly back up to her face._

_"Why are you sorry? None of this is your fault, Jane. It's mine. I should have told people about us, about how wonderful you are." She gently placed her hand in Jane's curls and kissed the top of her head before sitting in the chair to the right of her bed. _

_"Maur, if I hadn't walked out th-" Maura put her index finger against Jane's lips, shushing her. Smiling once her mouth had closed, Maura sat back in her chair._

_"Let's not talk about it, ok? We were both at fault, you're okay, I'm okay, everything's going to be okay. Right?"_

_Jane nodded and laid her head back on the plastic pillow, making an odd crunching sound. It was then that Maura remembered the carving in Jane's cheek. The nurses had covered it with gauze, making it impossible to see the severity of the wound, but Maura knew it would leave a scar. Hoyt would forever be a part of Jane, no matter how hard she tried to forget him._

_After Jane had fallen into a restless sleep, Maura slipped out and went to the nurse's station. She was curious as to how long Jane would be in the hospital, but didn't want to ask in front of her, in case it was bad. The little clicks of her heels echoed through the hallway as she walked and she didn't hear the man that had been following her ever since she left the room. Turning the second to last corner to the nurse's station, the man grabbed Maura from behind, covering her mouth and nose with a paper towel soaked in chloroform. _

_When Jane woke up about an hour later, she used the phone on the side table to call the front desk. They told her that they hadn't seen her leave, and then hung up abruptly. She struggled to sit up, grabbing her cell phone and dialing Korsak._

_"Korsak? Have you heard from Maura at all? She's not here."_

_She waited for a minute while Korsak talked about his animals and how he was taking care of Jo Friday while she was in the hospital. Rolling her eyes she made gestures with her hand imitating the sign of someone talking too much. _

_"KORSAK! Have you heard anything from Maura?!"_

_"Nah, Jane. Sorry." He hung up and she slammed her fist into the hospital bed._

_The hospital phone rang and she picked it up, "Hello?"_

_"Jaaaane." Hoyt's voice crooned through the speaker, "How's Maura? Oh, wait. She's right here, sitting with me, telling me all of your... Deepest secrets."_

_She could hear the sneer in his voice, playing her, trying to get her to react._

_"Hoyt, don't you touch her. I swear to GOD if you touch her I will kill you if it is the LAST think I ever do!"_

_"Jane? Jane, are you there?!" Maura's voice came floating over the line, and Jane balled up her fist, gripping the sheets._

_"Maura!" She could hear Hoyt charging the taser._

_"She's cooperating quite nicely. But of course, what would you expect from __**the good doctor?**__" _

_He put emphasis on the last words, making Jane angrier. She heard the taser being discharged and a small whine from Maura. _

_"Bye bye, Janie." _

_The phone line went dead._


	5. Chapter 5

_Maura lay on a mattress, Hoyt standing over her with the taser in one hand and her cell phone in the other. His smile was startling, one side of it barely lifting, path obstructed by the scar Jane had given him. He tossed the phone down next to her head, daring her to grab it._

_She hardly moved her eyes, calculating how fast she could grab it and dodge the hit that would surely be coming her way. Both of her hands were zip tied together, making her getaway time that much slower. He looked away for a second and she tested the bindings at her ankle, finding them tighter than those around her wrists. She wasn't quite sure what was binding them, but she knew that it wasn't zip ties. The ones around her ankles felt rougher than the ties around her wrists, almost like a rope._

_She looked at her surroundings and came to the conclusion that she was in some sort of warehouse. The room was dimly lit, with barren concrete walls and one door about forty five feet away. Hoyt was standing near a metal table littered with various surgical tools and paper, which Maura assumed were newspaper clippings of his previous murders._

_He turned back and she became still again, not wanting to make him angrier. He had a scalpel in his right hand and a tube in his left. Kneeling on the bed next to her, he stared into her eyes and sneered at her._

_"I've sent a message to Jane. By the time she has that fat cop get here, you will have bled out. How unfortunate... Well, you might still be alive, but you will never be the doctor she once knew." He used his scalpel to cut the zip ties and placed her arms at either side of her body, tying them in place with a black nylon cord._

_She recognized the material at once, and determined that it was the same as the one binding her ankles together. He brought his scalpel to her neck and made a two inch incision parallel to her left corroded artery. He eased the tubing into the cut and watched with an evil gleam in his eye as the blood began to trickle down into the drain. _

_ She couldn't stop the groan that escaped her lips at the sting of the sharp metal slicing into her skin and a tear crested and rolled out of her eye. She squeezed them shut to prevent anymore from falling and tried to think of Jane as the blood drained from her body and the darkness began to take over. _

_Hoyt stood over her, reveling in his work. He had a hungry look in his eye as he watched the life drain out of her, but was brought out of his little day dream as the door of the warehouse was busted down and Frost came barreling in with Korsak close behind him. Hoyt moved closer to Maura, scalpel still in hand._

_"Come on boys. You wouldn't want the good doctor to die, now would you? It would be such a shame, she's so... Intelligent." He began to stroke her cheek, and Frost looked at Korsak with a worried look in his eyes._

_The surgeon touched the scalpel to Maura's temple and slid it down her face leaving a trickle of blood dancing in its wake. She stifled a whine and her eyes widened. She looked over at Korsak and motioned towards his gun with her eyes. He nodded his head slightly, acknowledging her, and waited for Hoyt to move again._

_"Hoyt, let her go!" Maura heard Frost's voice and tried to swivel and look at him, but Hoyt pressed the scalpel into her cheek causing her to cry out in pain. She stopped moving and looked into his eyes._

_"How do you expect to get out of here? The moment you make one wrong move you are dead." Maura spoke in a calm voice despite her current position._

_"Oh I don't. But you see, the longer I stall them, the closer to death you become, and that's the whole point of this isn't it? You're the one thing that is constant in Jane's life, and if I take that away what will she have to live for?" His face contorted into a horrific grin as he eased his face closer to Maura's, "If I take you away from her," he was whispering now, a nasty, foul sound right next to her ear, "she will never be the same." _

_Maura narrowed her brow, but felt the darkness creeping in once more, and remembered the blood that was escaping her body. Hoyt pulled himself upright again and looked at the detectives across the room._

_"She nor I are making it out of here alive, detectives. Might as well call the ME n- Oh, wait, she's right here isn't she? Maura," Her name seeped off his lips like venom, poisoning the air around him, "what would you say is the cause of death?" _

_"You shut up Hoyt!" Korsak's deep voice resonated off the walls. He was falling into Hoyt's snares and he knew it, but he didn't care. He pulled his gun up and shot Hoyt, straight in the heart. Blood spattered across Maura's body, her green satin shirt stained with crimson._

_"Frost! Get the medics in here, she's lost a lot of blood." Korsak immediately ran to Maura's side, "You stay with me, okay? You stay with me!"_

_Maura's eyes felt heavy in their sockets and she felt the waves of darkness taking her away. She nodded, or at least she thinks she nodded, and looked up at Korsak. His eyes were kind, she thought, and she was grateful that they were the last things she would ever see. She wished it would be Jane's dark eyes, but his would do. She felt her lids closing, and the darkness swallowed her as the paramedics came rushing into the warehouse._


	6. Chapter 6

_Laying her on the stretcher, the medics wiped the blood off the side of her face, revealing a three inch long cut from her temple to just above her jaw line. They adhered gauze to the wound and moved to the more prominent injury: the slice in her neck. It was still draining the blood from her body, and since it was going into an underground sewage pipe, they had no idea how much she had lost. Carefully removing the tube, they used gauze pads to apply pressure while someone ran to get the tape. _

_Korsak picked up Maura's phone with a gloved hand and noticed that there was a voicemail. He fumbled with the keys but eventually got through to the voicemail. His heart dropped when he heard Jane's voice on the recording, "Maura, baby, I'm so sorry I got you into this mess. If it weren't for me Hoyt would never have touched you. Please be okay, please! Keep holding on okay? Frost and Korsak will be there soon, and they're gonna make sure nothing happens to you. I can't lose you Maur. I just can't. You mean the world to me and if I-"The recording cut off. Jane had run out of time. Korsak hung up the phone and slid it into an evidence bag._

_The medic came back in with the tape and used it to hold fresh gauze in place over the wound. They wheeled her out to the ambulance and placed the gurney inside. Hooking her up to fluids they milled about in the back of the ambulance, vying for their positions around her. They hung a bag of O negative and began pumping the much needed blood back into her body. _

_Maura coded three times on the way to the hospital and the medics began to panic the fourth time she began to go. Her body convulsed in seizures due to lack of oxygen and her blood pressure was all over the place. She was losing blood faster than she could possibly take it in. The cut on her face had stopped bleeding, but the medics couldn't get the neck wound to stop. They estimated about a liter and a half had been lost, and that number was still rising. After a four minute seizure her body finally relaxed, and the heart monitor showed a steady line. She was pronounced dead at 9:53 pm._

_They wheeled Maura to the morgue where the hospital's medical examiner began to clean up the blood around the cuts, trying to make her look as normal as possible before Jane came to identify the body. Everyone knew, of course, that this was Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but it was protocol to have the next of kin identify the remains of a victim. _

_No one liked dealing with Hoyt's victims, but this one was especially close to home because everyone knew Maura. She was always so nice to the people she came in contact with, cordial but not obnoxiously so. Eileen, the medical examiner on duty today, used a sterile cloth dipped in iodine to clean the wounds and watched as the liquid in the bin turned a muddled shade of brown. She got engrossed in the preparations and lost track of time, running through the motions; clean the wounds, stitch up the gash on her neck, put a little mortician's putty to cover up the sutures, and cover up the body from the neck down._

_Korsak went up to Jane's room on the third floor and walked in. She had a hopeful look on her face, like a puppy waiting for a treat after doing something good. Korsak dropped his head, not wanting to see the look on Jane's face, and cringed when he heard the sobs wracking Jane's body. _

_"I want- I want to see her Vince. I w- I need to see my wife!" Her voice cracked as she said wife, and he wondered why she had said that, but didn't question her._

_"When I get the call from the mortician, we will go down there ok Janie?" She nodded and wiped at her tears._

_"What happened Korsak? You said you would keep her safe? I called and told her you would KEEP HER SAFE DAMMIT!" Her anger was expected, and Korsak just looked at the floor. "I told her that everything would be okay, that you were on your way!" She burst into tears again and laid her head in her hands._

_Korsak's phone rang, and after a minute or two of 'yeah' and 'mhhmm' he hung up. Rising to his feet, he adjusted the tan sports coat he always wore and held his hand out for Jane who took it and stood slowly. She reached behind her and tied the hospital gown shut and followed him out the door, shuffling slowly in her sock clad feet._

_In the elevator she looked in the little mirror behind Korsak. Her hair was ragged and she looked as if she hadn't slept in days. There were dark rings under her eyes and her face was sunken and angular, with gauze covering her right cheek. She reached up and touched the bandage with her hand and tried to remember what lay underneath it. Looking at how tattered she was, a small part of her wished her appearance was better for Maura. A lone tear fell over her cheek as she turned back to face the elevator doors._

_A few seconds later the stainless steel doors opened to reveal a sterile morgue. Jane crossed the threshold first followed by Korsak. She saw multiple bodies on the tables but only cared about one; the honey blonde woman that had made her days brighter. The woman sitting at a desk stood up and walked over to Jane, a somber look on her face. They shook hands and she led the pair to a table in the far left corner of the morgue occupied by Maura._

_She pulled back the sheet revealing the woman's perfect curls lying behind her head, which was held up at the neck by a brace. Her face was blank, no sign of the pain and torture she had gone through just hours before. Jane reached out and ran her hand down the side of her late wife's face. She pulled the sheet down further, revealing the bloody clothing that still adorned Maura's body. She took Maura's right hand in her own and looked at it, not really focusing._

_"Maura, I know that I always said I would be there for you, but I wasn't. I said I needed you Maura. I said that I needed you, but you needed me more, and I'll never be able to-" she looked down, the tears threatening to pool over and fall, "I'll never be able to make it up to you. I'm so sorry that your last memories are of Hoyt. I so wish that they were of me, or Bass, or hell, I don't even care if they were of Korsak. I just didn't want them to be of Hoyt. I couldn't give you what you needed, and I will always regret it."_

_The elevator sounded as a couple emerged and the attending left the table to greet them. Korsak reached across Jane and looked at her as he pulled the sheet back across Maura's face. He grabbed her hand and turned her around walking towards the elevator._

_Jane looked over her shoulder at Maura as Korsak steered her away._

_"See you on the other side."_


	7. Chapter 7

**Content Warning: Language**

* * *

_Jane sat upright in bed, another nightmare shaking her from her restless sleep. She looked over at Maura's side of the bed and a tear escaped her eye. Today they would be meeting with the funeral director to make the arrangements to lay her wife to rest. Wiping the sweat from her brow she threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up slowly. Her body was still sore from the wreck and every movement sent a twinge of pain up her back._

_She walked into the bathroom that was just to the right of the bed and switched the light on. Looking at herself in the mirror she took in the sunken features that made up her face. The dark circles under her eyes only got darker as the days passed. Sleep without Maura was no sleep at all; just tossing and turning and drifting off, only to have nightmares again._

_Every sound she made echoed off the walls, a constant reminder that she was alone in the house. Jo Friday and Bass were with Korsak because she wasn't capable to take care of herself, much less two pets that would need her attention. She walked down the hallway and saw pictures of her and Maura laughing, arm in arm at the park, hugging at Rizzoli family dinner night. All of the pictures lining the walls were torturous, virtually screaming at Jane that it was her fault. If she hadn't left that night none of this would have ever happened._

_She remembered driving down the road, intent on getting to her old apartment as fast as she could, when a silver car came out of nowhere and began shoving her off the road. Her front tire had caught on the edge of the pavement and thrown her into the trees. When she came to, Hoyt had been standing over her with a scalpel in his hand. She didn't remember getting out of the car or walking into the woods, all she remembered was the hungry look on Hoyt's face as he wielded the scalpel and cut her neck. He kicked her in the sides and stomach, until she couldn't draw a proper breath. He then carved his name into her cheek and began to use the scalpel to cut the front of her tee, when a bark resonated off the trees around them, followed by Maura's voice. Hoyt quickly covered her with leaves and ran deeper into the forest, leaving her there to die. She had closed her eyes, waiting for the cold fingers of death to trail over her, pulling her into oblivion, but the only thing that touched her was the warm caress of Maura's hands, pulling her back to the land of the living. She saw Maura's mouth move, but didn't hear much of anything besides blood rushing in her ears. She tried to tell Maura something, but wasn't sure if anything came out of her mouth before she submitted to the clutches of oblivion._

_Jane sucked in a breath as a knock brought her out of her flashback. She looked at her watch; 10:15 am. She walked to the door with bare feet, the clap of flesh on wood making a hollow empty sound. She opened the door and came face to face with Korsak, who looked ragged and drawn out. Walking past Jane he took in the dark house. Jane hadn't bothered to turn on any lights or open the curtains because those were all things that Maura would do, to brighten her day. _

_"Uh, we gotta be at the funeral home in thirty minutes so you uh, might want to, y'know... Get dressed or somethin'." He seemed nervous and wanted to tread lightly._

_Jane nodded and plodded out of the room. Opening the closet, a new wave of grief hit her. On the left side of their walk in closet hung all of Maura's perfectly pressed and dry cleaned clothes, organized by color of course, while on the right were six different t-shirts and a few pairs of pants thrown on some hangers, with her boots on the floor beneath her clothes next to a pile of socks. _

_She grabbed a white tank and a gray tee and threw it on, tucking them both into her black slacks. Grabbing what seemed to be two matching socks, she picked up her boots by the strings and walked over to the bed, sitting on the corner and pulling the socks on. She heard light footsteps and whirled around, slipping on her socks and catching herself on the edge of the bed. Standing in front of her was a healthy Maura, chuckling at her clumsy wife._

_"Jane, you really do need to be more careful. I wouldn't want you to get hurt." Jane just stared, unable to comprehend what was going on._

_"No, you're dead, what are you do- you're dead for Christ's sake!" She walked up to Maura and held her hand up, as if touching an invisible pane of glass. Maura's hand followed suit, but when it should have touched Jane's, she felt nothing. The tears threatened once more and Jane waved her hands at Maura, as if to shoo her away. Immediately the figure dissolved, the colors floating away like dust in the wind. Jane wiped her eyes and put her boots on, walking back down the hallway to meet up with Korsak._

_"You ready to go?" He had yet to look her in the eye. She just nodded and held the door open for him, closing and locking it behind her. She followed him through the grass and as they reached the car she went for the driver's side._

_"I don't think so Rizzoli." He nudged her out of the way and shooed her to the other side, "I'm driving today." She huffed but complied, slouching in the passenger's seat and looking out the window. The sky looked pissed, the gray clouds churning on each other threatening rain. As Korsak pulled away from the curb she continued to look at them, as if the memories were playing on the bottoms like a movie screen._

_It was the first night that she had invited Maura over for dinner. She made spaghetti with meatballs, with white wine for Maura and a beer for herself. After Maura's sixth glass of wine, Jane told her she would have to stay there for the night._

_"But Jane, I don't have clothes here." She hiccupped and giggled as Jane pulled covers out to sleep on the couch, giving Maura the bedroom. "I will go get you some in the morning, ok? You can sleep in my room for the night." Maura nodded and put her glass down._

_"Let's dance, Jane. What music do you have?" She walked over to the stereo and hit play, dancing away from it as 'Pure Boston Beauty' played over the speakers. Jane laughed and walked over to her and began dancing, rolling her hips in time with the music. Her socks slipped on the hardwood floor and she toppled into Maura, who fell onto the couch. Maura looked into Jane's eyes for a moment and their faces inched closer. Jane's hands found their way up into Maura's hair and she brought her lips down to hers, their lips dancing around each other. Maura grabbed Jane's waist and pulled her closer, their lips never parting except for air._

_Jane still had no regrets from that night, except for the fact that she had to pretend like nothing had ever happened the very next day at work._

_"Jane. Hello? Earth to Jane?" Korsak's gruff voice jerked her out of her daydream and she noticed that they were parked outside of the funeral home. She looked at him and took a deep breath before getting out of the car._

_The funeral home looked eerily cheery on the outside, with brightly colored flowers in beds around the entrance and cherry blossom trees placed in the area around the parking lot. Jane stepped over the curb and onto the sidewalk and walked to the door where Korsak was waiting, the door held ajar by his loafer clad foot. She stepped inside and an overbearing floral sent hit her nose, causing her to gag slightly. _

_The carpet was a dull grayish color, met by equally dull beige walls trimmed with white base boards. As they walked to the reception desk, they heard bustling from a back room and a stout woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She wore a neutral plaid button up shirt with khaki slacks and black Mary Jane's. Her face was tastefully made up with light brown eye shadow, light colored blush, and a neutral shade of lipstick. Thick rimmed glasses rested upon the bridge of her nose which she pushed up as she reached the counter._

_"Hello, I'm Patricia, how may I help you?" she was awfully cheerful for the job she worked. Jane didn't like her already._

_"I'm Jane Rizzoli-Isles, I had an appointment?" She looked over at Korsak and rolled her eyes as Patricia opened the appointment book and looked over the top of her glasses, reading the names on the list._

_"Ah yes, Ms. Ri-"_

_"__**Mrs. **__Rizzoli-Isles." Jane's voice was cold as ice as she corrected the woman's mistake._

_"I'm sorry. Mrs. Rizzoli-Isles at 12:30. Right this way, please." She gestured towards a side room, and Jane and Korsak walked towards the door that was slightly ajar. _

_Entering the room, Jane's eyes scanned the unfamiliar terrain. In the middle of the small room was an oak table, no bigger than a small kitchen table. On the table were different pamphlets; 'What Headstone is Right for Your Loved One?' and 'Formal Burial or Cremation: Pros and Cons' all of which made Jane want to turn tail and leave. Behind the table was a single chair, assumedly for Patricia, and in front of the table were two chairs for the client to sit in. Other than those three objects, the room was quite sterile. The walls were off-white and the carpet was the same dull grey as the lobby of the funeral home. _

_Patricia followed them into the room and sat behind the table, motioning for the pair to sit as well. Jane took the seat on the right while Korsak sat, uncomfortably, in the cheaply padded, wooden framed chair. Jane pulled her chair closer to the table and folded her hands together, looking at the daunting pamphlets in front of her._

_"First thing first; I know this is a very hard time for you, the loss of a friend is always-"_

_"She. Was. My. Wife. Get that clear." Jane's patience was wearing thin, Korsak could tell. He reached over and rubbed the top of Jane's clenched fists._

_"I apologize. I-I didn't know." She looked at her lap and, shaking off the mess up, looked back up, "The loss of a spouse is always hard. There are decisions to be made, arrangements to be finalized, and a ceremony to carry out. Now, were you looking at a burial or a cremation?"_

_"Burial. Maura would've wanted a burial." Jane could feel the tears threatening to spill over at any moment. Just saying her name hurt._

_"Okay, now there's the matter of choosing a casket, the floral spray, and the date. Do you have an idea as to when you want the funeral?"_

_"Uhm, I uh," Jane could feel the panic setting in. Maura had always been the planner. She knew what would fit into their schedule and when. Jane never planned for much of anything, she just relied on her spontaneity, and rolled with the punches. "Wednesday. It should be Wednesday." Jane reached up and wiped a tear that had escaped her eye._

_"Alright, do you have a time preference?" Jane looked at her like she was crazy. Korsak could see the fury build in her eyes._

_"Yeah! I have a fucking preference for when I want to BURY MY WIFE!" Jane had stood up, her chair clattering to the floor behind her, her fists balling up at her sides. Korsak watched her body language for any notion that she might lunge at the pudgy woman sitting behind the table. "What's a good time for you?! Morning? Would that be THE BEST FOR YOU?!" Jane lunged over the table as Korsak stood up and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her away from Patricia._

_"I think that's enough for today Ms. Rizzoli."_

_"It's. Mrs. Rizzoli-Isles." Jane spat the words at her, the disgust apparent as the venom spilled off of each syllable._

_"Yes, of course. I apologize Mrs. Rizzoli-Isles. Tomorrow then, to continue the plans?"_

_Korsak turned to Jane. "I'll come up here and finish if you want me to. Just, give em a list of your preferences?" Jane nodded, the tears threatening again._

_"I'll be back tomorrow at 10:30. I expect you to be more hospitable." _

_Jane stayed close to Korsak as they walked out of the funeral home, the setting sun framing their bodies._


	8. Chapter 8

_Jane walked up to the door of Maura's house and put the key in the bolt lock, listening for the familiar click as she turned it to the left. Her eyes looked off into the unknown, her mind drifting to their first date._

_"Mauraaaaaa." Jane had whined as Maura raided her closet in search for a dress for Jane to wear to their dinner date. "Why can't I just wear this?" Jane gestured to her plain grey pant suit. Maura looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes dramatically. "You know, Jane, things would go much faster if you didn't complain." She chuckled as she turned around, leafing through the various undershirts and blazers Jane had in her closet._

_"Aha!" Maura exclaimed, pulling out a simple black dress. "Here, go put this on." She thrust the dress and hanger into Jane's hands and smiled triumphantly as Jane huffed and walked to the bathroom that was adjoined to her bedroom. Waiting for Jane to return, Maura looked around her bedroom. The bed was situated a bit to the left of the bathroom door, which was directly in front of and to the right of the bedroom door. There was a painting by an unnamed artist hung above her headboard of reeds sticking up out of murky water, a few lily pads floating near them. _

_Maura was pulled out of her trance by the opening of the bathroom door. A small gasp escaped her lips as Jane walked out. The simple black dress that she had pulled out of Jane's closet was now hugging every curve perfectly, the hem coming to rest just above her knee. _

_"Jane you look... You look..." Maura searched her brain for the right word, but nothing seemed worthy of how amazing Jane looked._

_"I look ridiculous." Jane huffed and blew air out of the corner of her mouth, sending a stray curl back into her wild mane of hair._

_"No, you look absolutely stunning. Oh my gosh." Maura shook her head, her loose curls flowing around her shoulders. _

_"I look stunning? I think you should look in a mirror before you call __**me**__ stunning." Jane chuckled and pushed her hair behind her ear before picking up the heels Maura had laid out for her. "Do I really have to wear these? Can't I just wear my boots?"_

_"Really Jane?" Maura laughed and motioned for her to put them on. "Come on now, chop chop. We're going to be late for our reservation."_

_"Where are we even going?" Jane looked at Maura with pleading eyes._

_"Now if I tld you that would ruin the surprise now wouldn't it?" Maura looked at her furtively. Jane huffed and slipped the heels on, wobbling a bit before regaining her balance._

_"Fine, let's go." Maura grabbed her hand and led her to her Prius, opening the passenger door for her. Jane slipped into the car and buckled her seatbelt._

_Maura started the car and put it in drive, going east from Jane's apartment. She pulled up outside of a French restaurant with a name that Jane would never be able to pronounce, and handed the valet her keys, walking around to Jane's side and offering her hand as Jane got out of the car. The valet gave them both a weird look as they walked to the front door, hand in hand._

_"Reservation for Isles." Maura sounded authorative as she talked to the waiter, occasionally steeling sly glances at Jane. The young man led them to their table, an intimate table in the corner of the restaurant with two chairs around it, a single candle set in the center._

_"Maura, this place looks more expensive than all of the furniture in my house." Jane whispered through tight lips as they sat down and the waiter handed them their menus. Maura just rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the waiter. _

_"I'd like a bottle of your finest Chateau please." The waiter nodded and hurried off to the kitchen._

_"Maura, this place is way too fancy. We couldn't have just gone to the Robber?" Jane's question was met with an intense stare of disdain. _

_"Jane, will you please stop complaining. The night will be much more enjoyable if you stop being so negative. Oh look, here comes the wine!" Jane chuckled at how excited Maura got over wine. As the waiter brought it to them Maura grabbed their wine glasses and set them at the edge of the table so the waiter could pour them their drinks._

_"Thank you." Maura was direct and precise when it came to dealing with the staff of the restaurant. _

_A dog barking down the street pulled Jane out of her flashback. She felt tears streaming down her face and saw the neighbor looking at her strangely and remembered that she was standing at Maura's door with the key still poised in the lock. She reached up and swiped at the tears, pushing the door open._

_Jane closed the door behind her and slid down it, wrapping her hands around her shins and resting her head on her knees. She let the tears come freely now, not even trying to keep them in. She could feel each drop slide down her cheek and onto her neck, but she didn't care. Maura was gone. She would never see the light in her eyes, the sun on her perfect face._

_"Jane, you mustn't do this to yourself."_

_Jane's head popped up. Could it be? Is Maura in the house? She got up and stood on shaky legs as she swatted the tears off of her cheeks. Looking around she saw no one in the living room or kitchen, so she started up the stairs. She opened the door to the bathroom to the right of the staircase and saw Maura standing there in her pale blue satin night gown._

_"M-maura?" Jane couldn't believe her eyes._

_"Jane look at yourself. Your hairs a mess, you haven't showered in days. Come on. The Jane Rizzoli I knew would never have let this happen to herself."_

_"But Maur, with you gone I can't-" _

_"Jane, do you honestly think I'd ever truly leave you? When you wake up in the morning and see that first ray of sun peeping in through the curtains, that's me saying hello. When you feel the warmth even in the coldest of places, that's me wrapping you in my embrace. I'll never leave you. Ever."_

_Jane felt a new wave of tears pooling in her eyes. _

_"Maura, I never got to say goodbye." The tears crested her lids and made fresh tracks down her pale skin. _

_"Shhh, honey. This is not goodbye. This is merely 'until we meet again'. Because we will meet again. It may be tomorrow, it may be in 20 years, but we will. I love you Jane. Remember that. I will always love you. Always."_

_As Maura spoke that last word she began to fade away and Jane reached out, trying to hold on to her wife._

_"I love you too." she whispered as a single tear fell across her cheek._

* * *

**A/N: Thank you everyone who has read this far. I know most of you were not pleased with me killing off Maura, but please hold on. I promise that everyone will get their happy endings. (hopefully)**

**Thank you for your reviews!**

**PS: Little heads up. Next chapter is Maura's funeral.**


End file.
